In its 16th annual survey to find the best places in America for business and careers, Forbes revealed the top cities where career growth and opportunities are galore.
To arrive at the top 10 places for career growth in the U.S., Forbes rated 200 of the largest metro areas in the country on several factors like cost of living, labor force, income growth, education and jobs.
Sourcing data from Moody's Analytics and the U.S. census, Forbes found that Raleigh - the North Carolina town - provides the best opportunities for a good career. About 42 percent of the city's population has a degree and business costs are 18 percent below the national average. Raleigh beat last year's winner Des Moines. However, the Iowan city came in second this year.
Below is the list of the top 10 cities:
1. Raleigh, N.C.
2. Des Moines, Iowa
3. Provo, Utah
4. Denver
5. Fort Collins, Colo.
6. Lincoln, Neb.
7. Oklahoma City
8. Salt Lake City
9. Seattle
10. Nashville, Tenn.
The Forbes list follows a recent Glassdoor survey that found the top American cities most favoured by employees. Glassdoor also recently ranked companies on the basis of pay and employee benefits. Google grabbed the top spot with Costco and Facebook following the search engine giant.
The Forbes survey comes amid a positive hiring report. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the country added 288,000 jobs in June, recovering almost all the jobs it had lost during the recession. While its July report is due Friday, experts predict that hiring has been strong throughout the month - strong enough to hold up the economy until the year end, reports Reuters.
"It looks like employers are not shy about adding to head count. The recovery is on solid ground and we are expecting the data to show that in the month of July," Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in New York, told the agency.
